Emily Matthews swore she’d never expose her son Jack to her dysfunctional family that sent her running from Bokchito at only seventeen. The sins of her past still haunt her, but when her brother lands in jail, she has no choice but to go back and face her old demons.

Miller Anderson has never forgotten about the girl who ran out of his life thirteen years ago…

And with the secret he’s keeping from Emily, he knows he most likely never will. But when his daughter Abby plays matchmaker to set him up with his lost love, he can’t resist the resurgence of emotion that has them reliving their high school glory days.

Evil has a way of waiting for what it wants…

Just when Emily and Miller discover their old flame hasn’t died, they learn another fire has been smoldering in Bokchito. Her family’s long line of sins, kindled with a generation-old grudge, ignites when Emily discovers the truth about Miller’s daughter and is forced to choose between protecting Miller’s secret and the one thing she can’t afford to lose…her son Jack.

Caught up in a game of lies and dirt road scandal, Emily must risk everything to save her son and preserve Miller’s good name, or let her family’s darkest secret ruin them both.

“I didn’t just want something from you, you know? I came to Levi’s to help you. I was even worried when I realized you were gone. I drove out to Miller’s thinking, Surely she’s not dumb enough to be out there. That’s before I knew you were fucking him in high school.” He closed his eyes tight, and looked at her again. The anger seemed to be subsiding. “You shouldn’t have walked out on me. You should’ve treated me better than that.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.”

“Mommy!” Jack called out as he pounded the window. “Mommy!”

Anger flared in Alan’s eyes again. “I thought you said you were going to shut him up.”

“I will. I promise.”

“You’re just like the rest of them.” He pulled her away from the car and shoved her to the ground. Then he opened the car door, yanked Jack out, and chucked him to the ground as well. “Shut up, kid! Shut the hell up!” he yelled, though Jack probably couldn’t hear him over his own loud wails and Emily’s pleas. He aimed his gun at Jack and said it again. “Shut the hell up!” Jack was still screaming when Alan took another step closer and pulled the trigger.

Emily screamed and rushed to Jack, who was still crying. There was no blood on him anywhere. In fact, there wasn’t even a pop or a bang when Alan squeezed the trigger, just a click. Alan was smiling.

“You bastard!” she yelled as she stood and lunged for him.

Alan slapped her across the face with the side of the gun and pushed her back down.

“Relax. I knew it wasn’t loaded.”

Emily held her face where the ache was starting to pound. “He didn’t! I didn’t!”

“Big deal. Hoyt used to do that to me all the time.”

“So that’s what you’re doing now? Whatever Hoyt used to do? I knew you were exactly like him.”

Genevieve Lynne grew up in a small Texas town where everyone knew each other and gossip was considered a legitimate news source. She was raised on heaping doses of her grandmothers’ fabulous cooking, sweet tea, hot summer nights at the lake and maternal guilt. Even after moving to Austin to pursue her bachelor’s degree in English at The University of Texas, she never could shake the small town out of her. She’s still working on the guilt thing.

She loves to incorporate the charm of crazy close families and small-town life into her stories. She now lives in Fort Worth with her husband and three sons.